The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-12-17
A CURT GOODBYE.
BY CORPORAL GRAY.

In May, 1S6S, | being memoer ol the Thirteenth Illinois Cavalry, and in General Steele's command, 1 was cap tured, with three other members of the command, while foraging in the country about thirty miles from Lit tie Rock. We were stripped of all outside clothing, spurs, hats and boots, robbed of rything of value and for warded to Little Rock to be confined as prisoners of war in the peniten- tiary. The building was then entirely clear of convicts, and we were confined in the yard. found about two hun- dred and fifty Federal prisoners in there, and had not been in the inclos- ure half an hour when l was informed that plot was on foot for general delivery at an early day.
 There was line of Confederate sen- tinels on the walls, and second line at the base of the walls outside. This seemed to the Confederates to assure our captivity, but, ten or twelve days previous to my arrival, our boys had begun tunnel designed to go under the Wall. They had begun at spot about forty feet back from the wall, and the work had all been done at night. During the day blankets were thrown over the spot, an old piece of canvas elevated for an awning, and no one could suspect what was going on under the very noses of the guards. On the second night of my arrival the tunnel was finished. It came out close to an old shanty twelve feet outside the wall, and every man ill the inclos- ure was invited to make use of 1t, and advised how to act when he once got outside.
 The night was dark and rainy, and the men began passing out at about niue o'clock. It was midnight before my turn came, and the man behind me was my tent mate and chum. We had our own ideas of what course we should take after getting out, and in- stead of making bolt for the country we walked coolly off into the woods for about a mile and then climbed a tree. We were scarcely in place before a great hullabaloo at the prison warned us that the escape had been discovered. Out of two hundred and fifty prisoners in the place two hun- dred and forty -seven passed out. The others were too ill to go. The very last man was out when the Confeder- ates made the discovery. There was a great commotion inside of two min- utes, and inside of quarter of an hour the country was being secured in every direction. l may state here that only twelve of us cut of that large number eluded recapture. Most of them were taken before noon the next day.
 Before daylight the woods in which we had taken refuge were being beaten up by dogs, civilians and soldiers, and had we been in flight we should cer- tainly have been overhauled. Indeed, they recaptured numbers of prisoners within our hearing, and some of them passed under our tree on their way back to confinement. When day light came we climbed higher and se- cured better shelter, and we did not descend from the tree until ten o'clock at night. During the day many seachers passed through the woods, and had any of them lifted their eyes we must certainly have been discov- cred. When we got down to earth we took half circuit to strike the Arkansaw river at point far below the town, and as we reached it, after three or four hours hard travel, we came upon 8 negro cabin. The man was routed out, and as soop as he knew that we were escaped prisoners he gave us hearty meal, bundled us up large quantity of coarse provis- ions and insisted that we make use of his boat to go down the river. He gave us the names of all the towns be- low, advised to lie by during the day and saw us off with "May de Lawd press yer boaf an see ye frew"
 We were eleven nights paddling down the Arkansaw, and eleven days lying by in swamps and cane brakes. Alter the s.art we secured food only three times, and that in small quantities. It was always from the negroes, and in no case did we fear betrayal. During those long nights we came near being recaptured score of times, and during the days we were so harassed and annoyed by hunger, heat and insects that we were more than once inclined to give ourselves up. We reached the Mississippi one morning just at daybreak, and the smoke of the Federal gunboat, Little Rebel" was plain to be seen. We had to hide in thicket and wait nearly three hours before she came opposite. Then we signaled and she checked her way, run out her loaded guns, and sent boat to hail us. The officer shouted:
 1Who are your"
 1Escaped prisOnera"